The day I read the press release for this episode, I knew that I'd probably end up watching this, despite my disgust for a lot of things.
Turns out, it was kind of worth it. Because a lot happened that I'd probably end up being really confused about in the end if I only watched through live tweets!
WARNING: Lots of spoilers below! (though, that's kind of the point of a review):
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First off, let's start off with the important stuff, The Hetty update:
Last year, Episode 11 revealed what she was doing and where she likely was. This year, well. Got a lot more this time around! Well, at least a sense of the danger of the mission.
It started off (after the opening reel, which never should've been changed because it was perfect as is) with Callen looking at the TV looking really worried with the words: 'Drone strike in Syria' being shown. (Not gonna lie, my anxiety started going up when I read the words too! Hetty may be the Wonder Woman of the franchise, but I still worry about her a lot. Especially when you're dealing with terrible writers who might try to pull a fast one in an unthinkable way.).
And here is what happened next:
Hetty wasn't found dead, though, it definitely looks like she's MIA for certain! (NO, I do not under any circumstance, think that she's dead! It's impossible.).
Keane and Nate are both working for her, in their own ways. (At least she has good back up.).
Hetty was supposed to be negotiating for the release of 2 NCIS agents, though. Who knows how that's turning out to be right now. She was also meeting with someone very suspicious like when the strike happened. As for if I think she caused the strike, it's difficult to say. If it was to make someone whose targeting her think that she's dead, then maybe. (just as long as it doesn't involve making her team think that she's dead, because I don't know how my emotions would be able to handle that!!).
Long story short: This is 1 very dangerous mission, and I'm very concerned!
Other stuff that happened:
I'm more convinced then ever that Killjoy wants to cause the team to break up. His talk with Nate at the end, looked very sinister to me. Almost like he wants Nate to turn against Hetty. And if that's true, then he might try to turn her whole team against her! Seriously, I've never bought his so called 'good guy' act for a minute, especially not after last Season.
Do I think that it's possible that Hetty might be dirty? NO!! Why? Look at Seasons 1-9, and a few good episodes of Seasons 10-12! She's not at all dirty! She loves her team, and thinks of them as her family. She has even risked her life for them more then once! That is not the actions of someone who is dirty!! Sure, she did a lot of spy like things in the past, but jeez, that was her job! She is not dirty, and she never only thought of Callen as her future operative. (why couldn't this stupid showrunner have just stuck with: 'She took him in when he was 15'??!!).
Oh, and Kensi and Deeks had to deal with a missing mother aboard a ship. It was really stupid, and also pretty sad. But at least it didn't end in the predictable 'mother dies and they adopt the baby' cliche.
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All in all: Not a total waste of my time. In fact, I'd probably be completely confused if I only watched this through live Tweets.
Did it have a bunch of errors involving 'trying to remember stuff that happened years ago'? Plenty.
Did I expect Hetty to suddenly show up at the end? Maybe. But hey, 99% of my non cynical guesses with this show end up being wrong, so 2 out of 3 isn't so bad.
How worried am I about Hetty? Plenty. 😰 I know she can handle herself, but this is seriously dangerous stuff!
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Hope you enjoyed reading this. And the next review I plan to write about this Season will be the 1 or 2 parter that brings Hetty home! (Whenever that'll be)